For example, I can model (nearly?) everything with quantum mechanics, so then does calling something a quantum mechanical system not confer meaningful knowledge?
Actually no. Quantum mechanics is pretty well established, and we may suppose that it describes everything (at least, in low gravitational fields). Given that, pointing at a thing and saying “quantum mechanics!” adds no new information. That is not a model. An actual model would allow making predictions about the thing, or at least calculating (not merely fitting to) known properties. There aren’t all that many systems we can do that for. The successes of quantum mechanics, which are many, are found in the systems simple enough that we can.
Quantum mechanics is pretty well established, and we may suppose that it describes everything (at least, in low gravitational fields). Given that, pointing at a thing and saying “quantum mechanics!” adds no new information.
Are you making this argument?
P1: Quantum mechanics is well established.
P2: Quantum mechanics describes everything in low gravitational fields.
C1: So, calling a thing a “quantum system” doesn’t convey any information.
I wouldn’t state P1 and P2 as dogmatically as that, but rounding the uncertainty off to zero, yes. If everything is known to be described by quantum mechanics, pointing at something and saying “this is described by quantum mechanics” adds no new information.
Actually no. Quantum mechanics is pretty well established, and we may suppose that it describes everything (at least, in low gravitational fields). Given that, pointing at a thing and saying “quantum mechanics!” adds no new information. That is not a model. An actual model would allow making predictions about the thing, or at least calculating (not merely fitting to) known properties. There aren’t all that many systems we can do that for. The successes of quantum mechanics, which are many, are found in the systems simple enough that we can.
Are you making this argument?
P1: Quantum mechanics is well established.
P2: Quantum mechanics describes everything in low gravitational fields.
C1: So, calling a thing a “quantum system” doesn’t convey any information.
I wouldn’t state P1 and P2 as dogmatically as that, but rounding the uncertainty off to zero, yes. If everything is known to be described by quantum mechanics, pointing at something and saying “this is described by quantum mechanics” adds no new information.